I ain't regular hitmen

Back when I was a kid, I got into scraps. One time, a shady-looking man named… Ed (none of that Edward crap for him, thank you very much) came up to me. He’d spent his last few dollars at the track and was looking for more cash. I had a few bills on me, but I wasn’t willing to part with it. He was all male bravado, tongue sharp and his ego swollen. We fought. I kicked his butt. He changed his name. Still hangs out at the track, reminiscing about the days he tried to use comics to place his bets.

Honestly, I think about the yellow brick road first. Hope for the future instead of focusing on past troubles, but to each their own I guess. The Good Witch of the North says herself that the Wicked Witch of the West is much more fearsome adversary.

Course she's a more fearsome adversary, the Wicked Witch of the East ain't nothin' more than a red smudge on the yellow brick road by that point. Even freakin' Bambi'd be more threatening.

She may be the heroine, but be honest, when you think about that movie you think about the tornado first. An' by the way, old Twister dropped a fuckin' house on the first witch, making Dorothy's job much easier, so there, tell me again who's the real hero of the story.

A whole building? Just how many lil' Pennywises are ya gonna pop out?Anyways, that's real romantic of him, best wishes to you two. Just make sure not to hurt my buddy, he's one of my best employers.

Static clapped his hands together getting the nonexistent dust off his hands as he finished up a rescue. He wasn’t the only one strapped for cash. The amount of robberies he’s faced has gone up every day as the holidays drew closer. It was a simple equation. Add people walking around with a lot of gifts or money (which is eye candy to a criminal) and you add the people who would do anything to get that stuff it equals a mugging. Divide by Static and it canceled itself out. A zap here and there, done. Another day saved by the human taser himself. It was only a knife, but hey that could do a lot of damage. “How about next time you use that knife to rob a fresh cooked ham instead? Oh and Happy Holidays.” He never really understood what drove people to that point that they would kill someone over something like money. A life to him was worth more than any monetary value.

Virgil was man of perspective and he liked to use that part of him, but the crime life was his blind spot. He wasn’t so well off himself, since now most of his dad’s paycheck went to rent for their new place. Virgil offered to get a job to help out, but he wanted him to focus on his studies in his senior year. Still he couldn’t see how robbing someone of their hard earned money could be of any good. Maybe the just don’t care. That’s what a couple villains said when he had the chance to ask, but he wasn’t too sure if he believed them. His pops always told him to take nothing at face value after all.

That was his fourth save in a forty-five minute time span which literally drained him of all his juice. He almost forgot how exhausting it was to be a hero. Not that he minded it. It was just since the way his stamina was tied to how much electricity he had charged in his veins effected how he fought crime, it made the job even more tiring than for the average. Maybe he should learn some cool kick ass moves so it wouldn’t have to rely on his powers all the time. Ha—that was a funny one. One time he was in karate for a week and it was the saddest sight to see. Sticking to his pikachu powers was just the way he had to go. Not everyone could be a ninja. Except now he had to find a power source. He looked around for a second before seeing a powerhouse in the distance. Oooh—should he dare try it? Feeding off a place that sole purpose was to make electricity crossed his mind in the past, but had no idea what would happen if he did it. Could he be over charged? Oh what the heck, might as well experiment a bit while he had the chance. What was the worst that could happen? The place probably wasn’t that heavily guarded since it was a bit small for a powerhouse. Plus if could say he thought he saw someone breaking in. Well no that wouldn’t work since it was common knowledge his powers worked through electricity. So winging it was the best bet.

Oh, great, he was one of those. Give a man superpowers and a mask and suddenly he feels entitled to judge others based on their hobbies. Tommy moved one of the guns away from the kid, using the barrel to scratch the base of his neck. Not the safest movement he could make, but he had to keep his tough guy image intact somehow and there was something intrinsically badass about a man not afraid to play with his .45s, or so Tommy liked to think. Besides when you kill people for money you kinda get used to the idea of kicking the bucket, to the point where death ain’t nothing more than an old pal. “Oh, of course I’m the bad guy here. I have guns, so I must be evil. Ever been to Texas, kid?” Sarcasm rolled off his tongue in waves, but the light smirk on his lips ruined the effect.

Tommy took his time studying the guy, hiding his hesitation behind dark tinted glasses and another scowl. He probably had to carry a fake ID just to buy a beer, how could he put one or two through his head? Sure, he was the Hitman, a professional killer, a hired gun an’ all that, but whacking a kid? That was a bit too much, even for him. No matter what people said Tommy fancied himself a pretty decent fella, all things considered. Not one of the good guys, not by a long shot, but still not the kind of man who’d take a child away from his family, especially not with Christmas around the corner. He started to lower his other gun, but Baby-Thor decided to pull something. The small lightning coming out of his finger wasn’t enough to even lit a cigarette, but it was enough to startle Tommy. Two shots were fired in rapid succession, both of them aimed at the kid’s feet, not to hurt, just a friendly reminder of who was in charge.

“I see how it is. I’m the villain, and yet you’re the one shootin’ first. I coulda sworn that ain’t how it usually works, but I can improvise,” Monaghan muttered between gritted teeth. He focused his gaze on the building, activating his x-ray vision once again to make sure no one had heard them. As he did his best to ignore the soft throbbing behind his eyeballs –stupid powers and their damned downsides– Tommy bit the inside of his cheek, listening carefully to the guy’s apology.

“A’right, better safe than shot in the face, I get it. I ain’t gonna hold a grudge, don’ worry,” he offered the kid a quick smile and slightly lowered his pistols again, pointing both of them at the kid’s legs instead of at his chest and all those fancy vital organs there. Not a great improvement, but still a small peace offering. “Listen, this ain’t how I usually do things. I always do my homework on my targets, you see? Make sure they actually deserve two in the back of their heads when they ain’t lookin’. Yours was a special occasion, an’ I rushed into the job without doing my usual research,” Tommy shrugged. “I needed some money an’ someone’s willin’ to pay a few grands for your head. But don’t worry, I don’t shoot no ki—” Suddenly he stopped talking, all trace of casualness gone from his face. He could see one of the workers inside quickly crossing the hallway leading to the door just a few feet from Tommy and the kid. His x-ray vision didn’t let him pick up any more details, but judging from his rushed steps the guy must’ve heard the gunshots; either that or he was really in the mood for a smoke.

Without any warning Monaghan ran toward the end of the building, gesturing for Static to follow him before disappearing around the corner. “Quick, get over here if you don’ wanna get caught,” Tommy crouched, eyes following the worker’s every movement. Yup, he was definitely security. Monaghan prayed the kid wouldn’t pull anything stupid to draw his attention, last thing the ex-marine wanted was to deal with a daring escape from a stupid powerhouse trying to save his former target’s ass. Soon as he was outside the keeper started pointing his flashlight around looking for intruders, and Tommy mentally cursed himself for leaving his stun grenades in the car. They needed a diversion, and they needed it fast.

ooc: Just because I feel this is real important for everyone to know and I don't think I'll ever have a chance to share this outside of a random ooc note, this is Sixpack.

She digs ya, man.